More than £10,000 of funding has been secured for the ‘We Give A Hoot’ community programme which will be organised by St Elizabeth Hospice as part of the Big Hoot Ipswich 2022 art trail.
The funding from the National Lottery Community Fund and a local trust will allow the hospice to host We Give A Hoot, while the Big Hoot art trail takes place between June to September this summer.
We Give A Hoot will see the hospice work alongside under-represented community groups, to allow individuals from these groups to participate in a series of creative workshops, led by experienced artists, to develop new skills, while exploring the themes of identity and inclusion.
The creative outputs from these series of workshops will be stitched together to create designs on smaller, ‘Little Hoot’ statues, which will then be displayed at the Suffolk Show 2022 before joining the main Big Hoot Art Trail in Ipswich.
Jess Prosser, Trusts Manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “We are thrilled to receive this generous funding, which will see the facilitation of our We Give A Hoot project.
“The Big Hoot will be a real community celebration. So to have the opportunity to develop this project, which will bring all members of the community closer together through art, is something we are very excited about, especially as We Give A Hoot will leave a lasting, artistic legacy of the Big Hoot in Ipswich for years to come.”
The Big Hoot Ipswich 2022 is the third art trail brought to Ipswich by St Elizabeth Hospice in partnership with creative producers Wild in Art, following the success of Pigs Gone Wild 2016 and Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk 2019.
As part of the Big Hoot 2022, 50 ornately decorated owl sculptures, featuring designs celebrating all things Suffolk, will be scattered throughout Ipswich showcasing the wealth of artistic talent of the county and beyond, as part of the biggest free art event in Suffolk which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the town.
We Give A Hoot will include Suffolk residents representing the LGBTQ+ community, young carers, young adults living with life-limiting illnesses, including the hospice’s Zest young adult service, vulnerable adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs and Karibu African Women’s Support Group in Suffolk and their families.
The project will allow members of these community groups to work with professional artists to create Little Hoot statue designs that represent each of these groups and creatively articulate their hopes and dreams to the wider community.
Following the end of the Big Hoot 2022, the Little Hoots will then be returned to the community groups for them to keep as a lasting reminder and legacy of the project.
For more information about the Big Hoot 2022 go to thebighoot.co.uk.